Iago Herrerín “It’s Dangerous To Consider Real Madrid Dead”

When Athletic take the field on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabéu they know what they will be facing. Real Madrid may not have anything left to play for this season, but they are still a very strong team and will make things difficult for the Basques. Iago Herrerín understands the importance of the fixture and has set the expectation that Athletic must impose their style of football early on.

“We haven’t won there for many years. We are the ones who are playing for something and we will have to impose that in the match. They may not be playing for anything, but it’s Real Madrid and it is dangerous to consider them dead. We know that they have great players and won’t be easy to beat. Benzema is playing well. He’s superclass.”

When Gaizka Garitano took over as the manager back in December Athletic were in the relegation zone. Today they find themselves just three points off of 6th place and qualifying for Europe has become the ultimate goal this season.

“The objective is the Europa League and it’s essential to be near the top of the table. We must fight for it and hopefully we can say at the end of the season that we have a place in Europe. When Gaizka arrived the team was in quite a bad place. The first week with him we won a game and that was fundamental. We started to score more goals and we made the most of what our chances. With all of us working together we managed to get out of a critical state.”

It’s safe to say that Iago Herrerín is enjoying finally being the starting goalkeeper at Athletic. “When you have continuity is when you enjoy football the most, but it’s clear that you have to enjoy every game and every moment”, he said with a smile. This season the 31-year-old has statistically been one of the best goalkeepers in all of La Liga and he will need to have another great performance on Sunday to help the Basques topple Real Madrid.